Party for one: Solo adventures in Ottawa

Here is the story about the second fabulous road trip I've taken to Ottawa in two weeks! My life kind of rocks right now! I travelled to Ottawa for business this time and went up on my own. I don't do things by myself very often so the prospect of a solo adventure was both weird and wonderful. I say solo, but you'll see I couldn't stand my own company for very long ha!  After my work obligation ended, I got to see Helen my "hipster before it was cool" friend I've known for ten years. As soon as I got there, she handed me a bowl of coconut sweet potato soup. How well does she know me that she knew 11 pm would be the perfect time for that kind of thing?

Take 32.

The night of the supermoon led into a day of super sun for adventures-woo hoo warm weather!Armed with a new bucket list for the capital region thanks to the awesome teasers at Vegfest, it was off to The Gypsy kitchen for vintage clothing and good eats. I chose the BLT with coconut bacon, sprouts and home made mayo-yum! I also got the macadamia orange cookie.

Fact. Anything served on awesome plates tastes better.

The sandwich was bad ass but the cookie made me sad with it's suckiness. Silver lining that made up for crappy cookie = the bathroom was tiled with highlights of the 70s and 80s. Yes please!

How you doin? Come here often?

After such a disappointing finish, I was off in search of dessert nirvana. I took Helen's advice and went to Raw Sugar, a super funky coffee shop that was right in China town. Surprise surprise, my internal dumpling radar led me straight to China town. Every.Time.

Even though they failed to deliver the Auntie Loo's cupcakes as promised on the website, they did have whoopie pies! Sold! I'm not sure what the technical definition of a whoopie pie is so I'll break it down for you the best I can. Soft oatmeal/cinnamon cookies that hold both a dreamy marshmallow type filling AND chocolate frosting goodness. *drool*

 It was both incredibly delicious and super filling, so I put half away (we ended up fighting over it later like it was the last edible dessert on earth). On the way out, I spent an embarrassing amount of time in their super fab bathroom. I've decided that if I ever pee again without being directly under a chandelier, it will be too soon.

 Also, magnetic poetry! I hope no one else had to go.... 

Last stop before home was a visit with Mandy and Rob in Brockville, who I love like family. I've written before about how awkward holiday meals can be when you're vegan, so I've assembled a dream team of stand ins.

 I met Mandy last year at a circus protest (of course I did) and numerous commonalities sealed our friendship forever. We've been cooking up magic in the kitchen ever since. Mandy and Rob were just returning from another veg-themed road trip to Montreal and came bearing a freezer full of mock meat from Paradis Vegetarien foods. I've said before that I'm no longer much of a mock meat fan but tonight's dinner may have changed my mind!  This stuff is THE BEST! Mmmmmm!

 On the menu was mashed potatoes with mushroom gravy, fiddle heads, coleslaw and lemon pepper "chicken". Oh baby! This meal was *awesome*! Here is an approximation of the mushroom gravy.

Christina's dream team gravy

2 tbs coconut oil

500g sliced mushrooms

1 onion quartered and sliced

2 cloves garlic, pressed

1/4 cup red wine

Juice of one lemon

2 tbsp tamari/braggs/soy sauce

1 tsp Dijon mustard

1 tsp rosemary

1/2 tsp oregano

1/2 tsp savory

1/4 tsp coriander

1/4 cup water mixed with 2 tbs flour

Melt coconut oil in a pan heated on medium. Add onions and cook until translucent and a little bit brown. Add garlic and saute for about 2 minutes. This is a good time to add your mushrooms. You can cut them a little bit more if you like, but as they cook will get soft and you can break them with your cooking utensil until it's at your desired size. After your mushrooms have had about 5 minutes to sweat, this is a good time to add the wine. You can also add some to your mouth. Depending on how your mushrooms are looking (You want them to be pretty soft by this point. I wasn't really timing things, so it could be up to about 20 minutes to get here), now is a good time to add everything but the flour water mixture. Cook for about 3-5 minutes longer, feel free to add a bit more wine to the sauce or your belly if you feel the need. You can now add the flour mixture and watch it thicken up like magic. I also added a tablespoon of some fancy Shitake mushroom "oyster" sauce that Mandy and Rob brought back, but if you're not in Montreal you're most likely out of luck. You should taste yours now and decide if it's delicious or needs anything else to finish it.

Mouth Orgasm

Even though I gave out a ten for a brownie a few blogs ago, you should to know that almost never happens. To be honest, I've been chasing a perfect ten meal since Las Vegas. Tonight all my dreams came true. This meal blew my mind with awesome. Here's Mandy, proudly wearing her perfect ten!

A day later and I'm still feeling the afterglow from this meal! Thanks to my friends who fed and entertained me and my business for allowing me fun, adventure and funds for travel! Now go out and have your own adventure!

What the Kale?

This post was supposed to be a chronicle of the most amazing veg themed road trip of all time, but instead I'm following through on a promise to my awesome cousin Leslie. (Recipe at bottom as promised :)

Carol J Adams wrote a book titled "Living Among Meat Eaters" that revolutionized the way I functioned in a very non vegetarian culture. It came to me at a time when I desperately wanted to change my life to align with my values, but couldn't wrap my head around how on earth to function in social situations-they all focus on food! This book was invaluable, but I'll gush more about Carol J Adams in another post as we happened to meet her on our epic trip. So to make a point here, the book she wrote had lots of great tips for decreasing the awkwardness of social situations. Things like: don't discuss why you don't eat meat when people are currently eating a piece of meat. Along the way, I've come up with my own unofficial rules-most of which pertain to the kinds of food I serve omnis. There are a few on the no fly list. For people not used to vegan cuisine-no tempeh, tofu, leafy greens and for the love of god no nutritional yeast. This summer, during a big family reunion I broke one of my own rules. I was introduced earlier this year to the most amazing, fantastical, flavor bursting Kale salad. Kale? What the hell is that? Kale is a dark leafy green (you know that crap they always tell you to eat more of but you never do?) that is bursting with nutritive properties. Most of the time when I eat leafy greens, I saute it with my old buddies garlic, lemon, sesame oil and soy sauce to mask the healthy taste-so I was sure that I would hate this salad. Moral of the story is don't be afraid to try new things! This is about as healthy as it gets, and I could eat it for every meal! I'll probably talk more about why raw fooding is awesome at a later date-we're currently still getting acquinted. I can't claim this recipe as my own, but after countless interwebular searches I can't find the origin. So you can credit "random poster X" on www.vegweb.com if you feel the need to thank someone!

Rawsome Kale Salad

2 Bunches of organic Kale

1 Ripe Avacado

1/2 Red Onion Chopped

1 Apple Chopped

2 Tsp Minced Ginger

2 Tsp Minced Garlic

2 Tsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil

2 Tbs Fresh Lemon Juice

2 Tsp Soy Sauce/Tamari/Braggs Liquid Aminos

1/2 Cup Raw Cashews, roughly chopped

To prepare Kale, wash well and use a pairing knife to cut the leaves away from the tough stem. This often leaves them in nicely sized pieces, but if they are larger than bite sized-feel free to take care of that. Cut your avocado and scoop the fruit(meat, green part, flesh, whatever you want to call it) into the bowl with your kale. At this point you want to love up your kale and avocado, and you're going to do this by giving the kale a nice deep tissue massage. Get your hands in there and make sure the avocado gets into all the nooks and crannies of the greens. In a separate bowl, mix the ginger, garlic, oil, lemon and soy sauce together. You can now add that to your loved up salad, and love it up just a little bit more to coat everything. At this point, add all your other chopped ingredients. Mix and serve. Voila! Now you can sit back and let the compliment start a comin!